India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Sri Lanka in May 2017, claimed Sri Lankan Health Minister and Cabinet spokesperson Rajitha Senaratne.

The trip to the island will be Mr Modi’s second visit, since he arrived in March 2015, where he also toured the Tamil North-East and met with Northern Province Chief Minister C V Wigneswaran.

Mr Senaratne made the announcement as he met with India’s health minister J P Nadda at a yoga session in Colombo on Wednesday.
 

The commander of the Sri Lankan Army’s 53 Division, which is accused of committing war crimes during the final stages of the armed conflict, denied all reports of human rights violations, in an interview with Daily FT.

Tens of thousands of Tamil civilians were massacred in the closing months of the fighting, as hospitals were shelled and the Sri Lankan government declared “No Fire Zone” was repeatedly attacked. Maj. Gen. Kamal Gunaratne though stated that he “strongly refute[s] these allegations”.

A group of high ranking Sri Lankan military officials are in London to take part in a UN Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial summit to be held on Thursday.

Ministers from 80 countries, including Sri Lanka, are scheduled to take part in the event, which will discuss plans to improve the planning of peacekeeping operations by the United Nations.

The event is being hosted by Britain’s Secretary of State for Defence Michael Fallon and will take place in Lancaster House, London.

The official spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General said his words “spoke for themselves” when Ban Ki Moon compared the massacres in Sri Lanka to the genocides in Rwanda and Srebrenica.

Spokesperson Farhan Haq was responding to a question from The Island, regarding the Secretary-General’s remarks in Colombo, where he admitted the global body had made “serious mistakes” in its conduct.

Sri Lanka’s Minister of Ports and Shipping stated that special attention should be paid to security concerns, during the development of Kankasanthurai (KKS) Port in Jaffna, on a recent visit to the region.

Arjuna Ranatunga, the former cricketer turned politician, told Sri Lanka Port Authority officers that “national security” should be at the forefront during the development of the port, which is taking place with the help of the Indian government.

In a heated discussion in the Sri Lankan parliament on Tuesday both the government and the joint opposition debated extensively the UN Secretary General's reference to UN failings in Rwanda, Srebenica and Sri Lanka. 

The debate which centred on whether or not the UN chief had inferred a massacre of the Tamil people had taken place, illustrated agreement on one central point - both the government and the joint opposition did not believe any such massacre took place. 

The Sri Lankan military has expanded its Vanni base in recent weeks building a new bungalow for troops and a new fully pledged cook house.

The commander of Sri Lanka’s Vanni Security Forces Major General MHSB Perera declared open the new bungalow for troops, in a red carpet ceremony, complete with Sinhala Kandyan dancers on 24 August 2016.

The Sri Lankan prime minister on Tuesday condemnded the assault on the High Commissioner in Malaysia, Ibrahim Ansar, stating the Malaysian government was "bound to give protection". 

"We condemn the assault on the High Commissioner. Soon after the incident, I instructed the Acting Foreign Affairs Minister to summon the Malaysian Envoy and register our protest. The Malaysian Government is bound to give protection,” Mr Wickremesinghe told parliament, the Daily Mirror reported. 

Sri Lanka could potentially wield 'soft power' due its strategically important location said Foreign Secretary Esala Weerakon at the conclusion of the two-day Colombo 'Defence Seminar' organised by the Sri Lankan army. 

"Sri Lanka today is a good fit for internal and external expression of soft power reality. It welcomes peaceful engagement, remains open to friendship and persuasions. It does this all, while consolidating democracy; rule of law; reconciliation; upholding, promoting and protecting human rights; strengthening good governance; and rules based systems. We are in fact enhancing the soft power of our State," he said in his closing remarks. 

A Sri Lankan lawyer, N Dharshana Weraduwage filed a fundamental rights petition on Monday looking to safeguard and foster the Buddha Sasana against any attacks or threats, in reaction to recent vandalism of a Buddhist statue in Mankulam, in the Northern Province. 

Weraduwage's petition sought an interim order to direct the Minister of Law and Order to investigate recent incidents of vandalism of Buddhist statues in the Northern Province and to take action to re-build, restore and/or refurbish those properties.